Monday, November 16, 2009

Worried looking woman holding gun

Stumptown #1, by Greg Rucka, Matthew Southworth, & Lee Loughridge

A while ago now it was that Greg Rucka came to my attention. His is one of those names you see on a lot of comics, but the first time I really engaged with him was when he was one of the writers on Gotham Central, the most excellent comic about cops in Gotham City. Seeing that he was writing this Stumptown comic, I decided to take a punt on it. It begins with two badasses parking a car by the river, opening the boot and letting out a woman, shoving her down towards the water and then blasting her with a pistol. Then it jumps back 27 hours, and we see the course of events that led her to that sorry pass. It turns out this is private detective stuff – to pay off a gambling debt, she is obliged to track down a young lady who has done a runner. As is the case with these things, various other people are also trying to find her, for unknown reasons.

I like this. The art is atmospheric, and while the story is maybe not (so far) like anything that has not been told a load of times, it is atmospheric and has a certain edginess to it, even if it is set in Portland, one of America's least edgy towns. I look forward to issue 2.